LAST UPDATE | 9 Nov 2023
THE VERY IDEA that the Central Council of the GAA would, with the strike of a pen, wipe out league hurling for five of their most vulnerable counties brings to mind the cynical and callous treatment that the Tory Government had for the city of Liverpool before it fought back.
‘Managed Decline’ they called it.
To recap briefly, discussions are ongoing about the shape of the hurling leagues in 2025. One proposal neatly lops off the counties of Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford and Louth. They would, in hurling terms, cease to exist.
And it might be one of the most bottom-line, balance-sheet, cold-hearted accountancy-driven decisions the GAA could ever come to make.
The proposed plan for hurling leads to some bizarre scenarios.
Is Luca McCusker good enough to play for Ireland in a Shinty International alongside Ger Millerick, Peter Duggan and Neil McManus, but not to play a league game for his county?
Is a game, granted special cultural heritage status by the United Nations and on the ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,’ going to be taken from five Irish counties, by – HA! – the very body formed to host the games?
We’re on a roll here. Bear with us, it grows ever more farcical.
Is the GAA, with an Official Guide that under the heading ‘Basic Aims’, states, ‘The Association has as its basic aim the strengthening of the National Identity in a 32-county Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic Games and Pastimes,’ – going to get rid of a dozen intercounty games a season?
The feedback from counties and players involved is a mixture of incredulity and in some cases, fury. A majority of county chairmen in this group were only vaguely aware of the proposal. As volunteers, most cannot sit on every single Zoom meeting scheduled.
There have also been question marks around how much this is the baby of the Central Competitions Control Committee.
The feeling among players is that few would have an appetite to start training for a Lory Meagher Cup that would be the ultimate limbo competition with no hope of promotion.
After a collective Zoom meeting between player representatives, they have resolved to speak openly about it and the Gaelic Player’s Association will come out in opposition to the plan ahead of GAA Congress.
Is it all a dream, or is it the ultimate ‘Dead Cat’ policy, designed to take attention away from other matters?
Maybe so. The reasoning goes that the collective spend of these five counties was €806,000 over the past season. Take away the league and that figure is halved, with some vague promises to use that money as a means to promote hurling.
But only if the policy is voted in. Less kind observers might be tempted to wonder just how unbearably light on detail it is. Doesn’t it feel a bit, well, Brexit-y to you?
Vague promises of redirecting funding should be seen for what it is.
This comes in an era when:
• The GAA have pledged €2 million towards the redevelopment of the Gaelic Park building in New York. This is most unusual as the premises is owned by The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who lease it to the GAA. Landlords who get the tenants to spruce the place up; nice bit of business.
• €12 million will be the estimated figure of the refurbishment of the Cusack Stand, which started this week and will feature an upgraded conference centre, suites and bathrooms.
• The debt on Cork’s flagship stadium, Páirc Uí Chaoimh will be paid off – hopefully – by 2048 – just the 25 years away! Meanwhile, the county footballers play their big games at Pairc Ui Rinn and leave the big stadium for Bruce Springsteen to fill.
• The GAA hailed the paying of €95 million for 31 acres of land belonging to Clonliffe College in February 2020, as “The key financial for the year, if not the decade.”
You get the idea. With such figures swirling around, you can understand the urgent need to clamp down on the mileage it takes to bring a bus from Carrick on Shannon to Enniskillen.
What does hurling development look like?
It looks like what has been going on in counties like Fermanagh.
After winning the Lory Meagher and Division 3B in 2022 they played in Division 3A this year.
They played five games. They started against Monaghan and lost to a last-minute free ending up in their net.
In Round Two they had one of their greatest-ever results in beating Mayo. They followed that with a draw against Roscommon.
They were level with four minutes to go against Louth and lost by a point in Round Four, and lost their final game against Armagh by a single point.
Out of their depth?
Under the bonnet, Fermanagh hurling is arguably the fastest growing unit in the game. Lisnaskea Emmetts and Erne Gaels have made welcome returns to senior hurling over the past couple of years to join the long-established Lisbellaw St Patrick’s.
At underage, the three clubs are joined by St Joseph’s of Ederney, Belnaleck, Enniskillen Gaels, and the newly-formed St Aidan’s, based around the Derrylin-Teemore area.
Belnaleck are the side thriving most at underage. Are their best young players to be told there is no pathway to progress into senior hurling with their club and county?
The point to bear in mind about all this development is that it has come about because of the Shane Mulholland Foundation, set up in memory of a former county coach and county hurler who lost his life in a car accident in 2015.
It has offered financial support and coaching to aspiring hurling clubs. But development comes from the grass up.
It can be aided by evangelists such as Martin Fogarty. In his five years as National Hurling Director, he lit a fire under clubs, coaches and volunteers. He formed an Ulster-wide Cuchulainns League for Wednesday nights designed not to clash with football training. All over the province, new clubs sprung up.
Nobody did more for hurling above the Mason-Dixon line of Galway to Dublin, than Martin Fogarty.
And when his five-year term finished, the GAA let it run out even though he was willing and able to continue.
We could go on. We must go on.
But I’m exhausted. You must be too.
All that needs to be said, is some of the finest minds of the GAA are trying to tell us that they are trying to develop hurling.
By not playing hurling.
